Feb. 7, 2007, Los Angeles and Beverly Hills - Common sense tells us a beautiful smile makes you more attractive, but a consumer study recently released by the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry (AACD) reveals a healthy smile offers many more benefits.
According to the study, people perceive those with healthy and white smiles as more interesting, intelligent, successful and wealthy.
Dr. Anne Beall, a social psychologist and market research professional from Beall Research and Training of Chicago, carried out an independent study. Beall presented before-and-after photos of eight individuals to a cross-section of 528 Americans. Participants were asked to make a snap judgment on the basis of attractiveness, intelligence, happiness, wealth, popularity with the opposite sex, the success of their careers and several other factors.
For the study, Beall created two sets of photos, showing before and after results of cosmetic dentistry, evenly divided between men and women. Half the participants viewed the first set and the other half set B.
Two of the photos revealed mildly improved smiles, two had moderate improvements and four had undergone major makeovers.
Respondents didn't know they were to judge the people in the photos based on their smiles. Instead, they were asked to make snap judgments on ten characteristics, based on their overall appearance. The judgment scale ran from one to 10, with one being "not at all" and 10 being "extremely."
The results may surprise you.
Perhaps understandably, the change was most dramatic for "attractiveness," followed by "popularity with the opposite sex," "wealth" and "successful in their career."
"Based on a lot of interaction with happy patients, we were expecting this type of difference in attractiveness and popularity with the opposite sex," Said Dr. Marty Zase, president of AACD, in a press release. "(B)ut to have large gains in how successful, intelligent, interesting and wealthy patients appeared after cosmetic dentistry caught even us by surprise. We've been telling people that a beautiful smile was a great investment in their futures. Now we have independent evidence."
Statistical results included a:
• 1.3 increase for Attractive
• 1.2 increase for Popular With the Opposite Sex
• 1.0 increase for Wealthy
• .9 increase for Successful in Their Career
• .7 increase for Interesting
• .6 increase for Intelligent
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Call top cosmetic dentist Dr. Mobasser today at 1.310.550.0383 or email us to schedule an appointment and learn more about how a beautiful smile can work for you.
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